1 It is well said, When a man aspires to a bishopric, it is no mean employment that he covets. 2 The man who is to be a bishop, then, must be one with whom no fault can be found; faithful to one wife, sober, discreet, modest, well behaved, hospitable, experienced in teaching,[1] 3 no lover of wine or of brawling, courteous, neither quarrelsome nor grasping. 4 He must be one who is a good head to his own family, and keeps his children in order by winning their full respect;[2] 5 if a man has not learned how to manage his own household, will he know how to govern God’s church? 6 He must not be a new convert, or he may be carried away by vanity, and incur Satan’s doom. 7 He must bear a good character, too, in the world’s eyes; or he may fall into disrepute, and become a prey to the False Accuser.[3]

8 Deacons, in the same way, must be men of decent behaviour, men of their word, not given to deep drinking or to money-getting, 9 keeping true, in all sincerity of conscience, to the faith that has been revealed. 10 These, in their turn, must first undergo probation, and only be allowed to serve as deacons if no charge is brought against them. 11 The women-folk, too, should be modest, not fond of slanderous talk; they must be sober, and in every way worthy of trust.[4] 12 The deacon must be faithful to one wife, good at looking after his own family and household. 13 Those who have served well in the diaconate will secure for themselves a sure footing, and great boldness in proclaiming that faith which is founded on Christ Jesus. 14 So much I tell thee by letter, although I hope to pay thee a visit before long; 15 so that, if I am slow in coming, thou mayest be in no doubt over the conduct that is expected of thee in God’s household. By that I mean the Church of the living God, the pillar and foundation upon which the truth rests.

16 No question of it, it is a great mystery we worship. Revelation made in human nature, justification won in the realm of the Spirit; a vision seen by angels, a mystery preached to the Gentiles; Christ in this world, accepted by faith, Christ, on high, taken up into glory.[5]

[1] ‘Faithful to one wife’ may mean, but does not necessarily mean, that in the discipline of the early Church a re-married widower was ineligible for the episcopate.

[2] ‘By winning their full respect’; in the Greek, ‘with all dignity’; in the Latin, ‘with all holiness’ (or perhaps ‘chastity’).

[3] vv. 1-7: It is possible that St Paul means us to understand these qualifications as applying, not only to the episcopal office, but to that of a priest; he does not mention presbyters in this chapter. Cf. p. 203, note 1. v. 7: ‘The False Accuser’ is the name given in Greek to the Devil. Here the sense would seem to be, that a Christian who was an object of suspicion to those outside the Church would bring the Church into discredit, through the scandal which the Devil would attach to his name.

[4] vv. 2 and 11: ‘Modest’; in the Greek, ‘dignified’, in the Latin, ‘holy’ or ‘chaste’. v. 11: ‘The women-folk’; probably meaning the deacon’s wife and household. It may, however, imply that women were recognized in the early Church, as they were later, in the character of ‘deaconesses’, sharing in the charitable work done by the deacons. Cf. Rom. 16.1, where Phoebe is said to be a ‘ministrant’ to the church at Cenchrae.

[5] This sentence would seem to be connected with what follows, rather than with what goes before. Some think that St Paul is quoting from an early Christian hymn; cf. Eph. 5.14. The sentence is perhaps best divided into three paradoxes: Christ manifested to the world in his humanity, yet redeeming us through the dignity of his Divine Person; the Resurrection, a sight only witnessed by angels, yet published throughout the world; Christ still making his power felt here below, through the faith of his Church, although he has ascended into heaven.